No To War
Stop bombing Iran - what you can do about it.
I was in the forest when I heard the news that the United States of America and Israel had launched a catastrophic war on Iran. Now I am back in London - the home of what Tariq Ali calls 'the UK's inbuilt anti-war movement.'
It is day five of this war and already thousands of people have been killed in Iran. This number includes over 150 children and staff at a school in Southern Iran. The tiny broken bodies of school girls had to be pulled from beneath the rubble of the place where they were supposed to feel safe.
I am opposed to this war - completely and totally. With no ifs or buts. It is reckless, immoral and wrong.
To echo the words of Maryam Eslamdoust, General Secretary of the TSSA union in the UK, principled opposition to this war is essential because the lives of Iranians are not 'geopolitically negotiable.'
The only crime of the school girls and their teachers, was to be born in a country that has been 'marked for destruction' by the USA for longer than I have been alive.
Iran supports Palestine thus it must be destroyed. Iran defends Lebanon and Syria thus it must be destroyed. Iran had a revolution that slapped the USA in the face thus it must be destroyed. Iran has oil thus it must be destroyed.
What we are witnessing is pure destruction. As Maryam Eslamdoust stated at an online anti-war meeting last night, Iran is not a country built for war - people do not have shelters, they do not have bunkers under their homes, they are living the same lives as you and me and now they are being carpet bombed.
This is a pattern that we have seen over and over again from the USA and from Israel. Countries marked for destruction reduced to rubble and blood, regional instability and conflicts, the theft of natural goods like oil and gas, violence heaped upon violence that lasts for decades.
We must be explicitly clear that it is not up to the USA or Israel (or Britain or anyone else) to decide who is in charge of other people's countries. Trump's 'regime change' is not a legitimate or legal or just cause for war.
Somehow, Trump truly thought he would have a swift victory - that the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family in their home would be the end. This was never going to happen. The prediction of Trita Parsi, Vice-President of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, is that in order to defend itself, Iran will seek to make this war as costly as possible for the USA and Israel so that when the ceasefire happens, the USA and Israel will not think it is a good idea to start the war up again after a pause. Unless the war is stopped it will have unimaginably tragic consequences.
Never forget that Israel has nuclear weapons. That nearby Pakistan has nuclear weapons. That India has nuclear weapons. That Donald Trump has nuclear weapons.
The radiation leaks that will occur from nuclear facilities being bombed in Iran will also spread poison across Iran, across the region and across the world.
What to do?
The people in charge are not going to make sensible decisions so we have to make them change their minds. We need massive pressure brought to bear on our governments to put a stop to this war.
Right now you can:
1) Write to your MP or local representative and state your opposition to the war.
In the USA the Constitution states that the president cannot send US forces to fight a war in Iran without congressional approval - write to your Congress representative. This is a massively unpopular war (only 1/4 Americans think it's a good idea according to Reuters.) Here is something else they might listen to:
2) Write to your head of state and state your opposition to the war.
Tell Keir Starmer, for example, you do not want British bases involved in any part of this war - no support for US or Israeli planes and bombs, including nuclear bombs.
3) Join your national or local anti-war group. In the UK:
4) Get out on the street and protest. There will be a demonstration taking place near you:
Next London one: Saturday 7th March.
Al Jazeera
Abid Hussain
NEVER FORGET THAT POLITICS IS SOMETHING YOU DO, NOT SOMETHING YOU HAVE.
My blood is red out of fury
The wind doesn't blow this far right
I am completely obsessed with this song from Irish folk singer Lisa O'Neill.
Some terrors are born out of nature
Some terrors are born overnight
Some terrors are born out of leaders
With their eye on a different prize
Have a listen. I hope it both brings comfort and galvanizes you into action.
28th March is going to be BIG
The UK is going to pour onto the streets to stop the tide of fascism that is threatening our country. Join the Together Alliance.
Hot off the press: There will now be a feeder march for Palestine - which I suspect will swiftly become a feeder march for Stop the War on Iran too.
At Rana Plaza Solidarity Collective, we are throwing ourselves into building as big a crowd as possible for our FASHION AGAINST FASCISM bloc, including going into fashion universities to speak with union meetings. Collective action is the only way forward - Join The Bloc!
